


A Day at Nando's

by KirstyKins92



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 05:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5653846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirstyKins92/pseuds/KirstyKins92
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team-building takes a more fun turn as the boys are made to work at Nando's for the day!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> So, I knew when I saw this challenge that I had to write something! I work at Nando's, and given there is a massive obsession with the restaurant with cricketers, I thought this would be ideal! The first chapter is a bit slow and wordy, but it sets the scene up for the following chapters - unfortunately I'm still in the process of writing them but they will be posted as soon as they're finished! I decided to use the current England test squad for this for ease of remembering players (and also because Chris Woakes!). I hope y'all enjoy!!!

"So gents, we have a new plan for some team-building. It's completely different to anything we've done before, but speaking to the Saracens management it has done wonders for their squad."

Trevor's words caused the team to glance around at each other, worried as to what the management were going to try and make them do. The idea that a rugby team thought it a suitable activity meant that the prevailing thought in the team was that it was going to be something highly physical and potentially dangerous.

"Don’t look so scared boys. All we're doing is sending you to work at Nando’s for a day. They will train..."

Trevor began to try and explain the situation but was cut off by a loud cheer from the corner that the younger members of the team had taken over. After several minutes of loud exclamation and bro-hugs (and an attempt to scale the lockers), Cooky attempted to restore some order to the room calmly, before Jimmy took it upon himself to shut them up.

"For the love of God you daft twats, shut up! And Hales, stop trying to climb up there, if you try and crowd surf nobody will catch you!"

 

The half past six alarm, however, was a different matter. Whilst the older members of the squad felt quite smug about the fact that they weren’t struggling too much with the early morning, the youngsters had to be dragged out of their hotel rooms into the restaurant.

The early birds of the squad quickly took in their surroundings as they walked through the glass entrance way onto the main restaurant floor. The spacious L-shaped flooring saw small tables dotted around, giving each party of diners some breathing space without compromising capacity. The Christmas lights that they simply couldn’t bring themselves to take down laced their way under the wooden till surround, and the tall steel co-ordination structure gleamed under the fluorescent lighting. Those who would rather still be in bed, however, only had eyes for the three rounds booths, whose comfortable leather seats looked like the ideal place to get another few moments rest.

Once the members of staff who would be supporting the team in their training had arrived (most of them assuming similar foetal positions on the sofas as the team, and thus getting acquainted with them quicker), the GM Jason called for attention.

"Morning everyone! Now, clearly you young folks have an issue with early mornings..." he started, glancing not just as the younger players but also his staff members all struggled to stifle their yawns. 

"But we can only hope that you enjoy today's experience, and maybe have a bit more patience next time you head out for a 'cheeky Nando’s'."

At the mention of this phrase, all of the staff members simultaneously groaned loudly, and threw sharp glances at Jason.

"Okay, I guess that's rule one of the day; do not use that phrase! Rule two is pretty simple really; the lovely staff members are here purely to help you. Any health and safety training you are given by them must be followed to the letter, and if I see any of you acting irresponsibly or disregarding what they say then rest assured there will be severe consequences. Now, instead of introducing everyone to everyone, I'm instead just going to pair you up with the buddy that corresponds to the area of the restaurant you will be focusing on. For tills and floor, there will be three of you to each buddy, because they are the areas we need strength in numbers. The rest of you will be receiving one-on-one training."

 

Throughout the speech, everybody had pretty much dozed off. Sensing this, Jason gave up trying to hold their interest for now.

“Okay, I see the early start is taking its toll. I’ll go out and grab coffee for everyone, and in half an hour we’ll try again.” This declaration was met by an abnormally loud cheer, as the Nando’s workers began to fire their orders at Jason.

 

After the reviving effects of caffeine had kicked in and everyone was more alert and awake, Jason gathered everyone around the large tables in the centre of the restaurant floor.

“So, it’s time to get you guys organised into the pairs or groups you will be working in today. Your management team basically told us all of your strengths and weaknesses, and we decided where they would mean you would excel at. So when I call your name, the buddy you’ve been assigned to will get your attention and you can just head off with them and they’ll brief you on what you will be doing today. So, as I say your name, stand up and your buddies will collect you.”

“So, we’ll start with the grill squad. Alex, you’ll be doing front grill with Jack. Steve will be back grill with Tasha, Ella will be taking Jos on co-ordination, and Johnny will be with Paul in the kitchen.” As the buddies heard their names called, they raised their arm in greeting (Tasha winking flirtatiously at Steve), and the players headed over to them.

“As for the cashier team, we’ll have Jimmy, Joe and Moeen on tills with Michaela, and Alastair, Chris and Nick on the floor itself with Katy. Stuart will be learning host with Danny, and the two James’ will be working together on running.”

Once everyone had found their buddy, Jason carried on with his briefing.

“So, I think the last thing to do before you head off and get trained is just explain quickly how today will work. So, you’ll be with your buddies until 12 o’clock. At that point we will open our doors to the public. Now, we are usually a quiet restaurant, which is why we were chosen to hold this team-building session. However we’ve been putting feelers out and handing out free vouchers for today, so hopefully you’ll be really challenged. So, good luck and I hope you all find the experience rewarding.”


	2. Chapter 2 - Hales

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First up, Alex Hales. How will he cope with the heat of the grills?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first of the chapters focusing on the individual players! I know there's an awful lot of detail in this, and there's probably a lot of Nando's spoilers in here (apologies!).

“So Alex, what we’re going to be doing today is front grill. It’s the easiest part of the grill area, so today should be a walk in the park for you,” said Jack. He smiled softly in an attempt to get Alex more comfortable around him, but just got a scowl in return.

“You mean I won’t get to talk to the pretty ladies?” asked Alex, frowning.

“Well, Tasha and Els will be behind the grill area with us, but yeah. No pretty ladies to flirt with,” replied Jack. “There’s plenty of fun behind the grills though; the banter is much better than it is on the floor.” Despite Jack’s attempt to make him more enthusiastic, Alex remains sullen.

“I would so prefer to be on the golf course right now!” he muttered, crossing his arms huffily. Getting tired of his attitude, Jack very nearly lost his temper.

“Well, as it stands you’re here, so let’s make the best of it,” Jack stated firmly. “So, the first thing we have to focus on is getting the restaurant ready for business. I’ve got a feeling this is something that is going to disgust you, but the main thing in that is racking up the chicken. We’ve split the job between yourself, Steve and Johnny so it won’t be too overwhelming, but most people find it rank the first time they do it.”

“What do you mean, rack up the chicken?” asked Hales, confused.

“Well, we don’t keep any raw chicken out the front in the grill area – it would involve too much hassle to keep the raw and cooked areas of the grill separate. So, we cook chicken in the ovens in the kitchen, and the cooked products are then passed through to the grills for basting and suchlike. So, to make them easier to cook in the oven, we have to put the different chicken products on metal racks,” replied Jack. Alex’s face immediately changed, a look of repulsion crossing it.

“I’m going have to touch raw chicken?!” he exclaimed, looking horrified

“Well, we provide you with gloves and stuff so you don’t have to actually touch it, and you won’t get any raw chicken juice or anything on you,” replied Jack.

“Why couldn’t I have been on the floor or something?!” muttered Hales under his breath. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Jack smiled, thankful that he hadn’t been more difficult about it. He lead Alex into the kitchen, where they both grabbed a black hat, a white disposable apron and a handful of blue latex gloves. Pulling these on, Jack then leads Alex to the back fridge.

“So, as you can see, this is where we store the chicken. All we’re going to have to rack up is 10 whole chickens, 25 butterflies, 40 burgers, 40 thighs, 20 wings and 20 drumsticks,” he said, loading everything onto a dolly to take back into the kitchen.

Once they got there, they found Johnny and Paul cleaning the canopy above the ovens.

“We alright to get in your way for ten minutes lads?” asked Jack.

“Course you are mate,” replied Paul. Smiling faintly, Jack laid a couple more aprons across the large trolley they used for rack-up, and grabbed a couple of trays full of the metal racks.

“So, we’ll start with the easy stuff first. Wings, thighs and butterflies are really simple. All you have to do is open the bag, spread them across the rack skin side up, and they’re done!” said Jack, attempting to be enthusiastic. He stuck one of his thumbs through the plastic bag holding the wings, and emptied them all on top of one of the racks. He began sorting them, then noticed Alex was standing watching him, with a repulsed look on his face.

“Get stuck in then mate!” exclaimed Jack. Swallowing heavily, Alex reached out and grabbed one of the wings.

“Oh my god!” he yelled “This feels wrong on so many levels!” He quickly made sure that the wing was facing the right way up before practically throwing it down onto the rack.

“And we thought these were the easy ones!” joked Paul, laughing at Alex’ reaction.

Once Alex had overcome the initial weirdness, he started to really get into a flow. Once all of the easy things, as well as the burgers, were all racked up, Jack turned his attention to the whole chickens.

“Just a warning – this is the vile bit. To get the whole chickens racked up, we have to break their backs and their wings,” said James, looking at Alex to gauge his reaction. When he simply received a shrug in reply, Jack grabbed one of the chickens out of the tray, and showed Alex the correct way to prepare them. Once the tray had been completely racked up, Paul gave a brief (and somewhat sarcastic) round of applause.

“I have to say, I didn’t expect you to be the type to do that!” he laughed.

“What were you expecting exactly?” asked Alex, unsure as to whether he should be offended.

“The posh type who’d shy away from graft and just call for his butler if anything actually needed doing,” replied Paul, a cheeky grin on his face. Before Alex could take offense at the joke, Jack quickly whisked him out of the kitchen.

“Don’t mind Paul, he can be a bit of a wanker sometimes,” he stated.

“Really? I couldn’t tell,” Alex replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Sensing that Alex was likely to dwell on the comment, Jack distracted him by showing him the correct way to wash up after racking up to make sure he was completely raw-chicken-juice free.

In the lead up to the restaurant opening, the boys did a lot of theory. Using the laminated cards that had pictures and instructions of how to prepare all of the front grill products, Jack made sure that Alex was completely confident in how to go about the job. On the stroke of 12 o’clock, with a big flourish, Jason opened the doors to the public.

“Right. So, now that we’ve gone through all of theory, it’s time to put it into practise. You’ll have to keep up strong communication with Steve and Jos so that the food is going out together and is as fresh as possible. But just try and have fun with it; after all, it’s just chicken and chips,” said Jack. Alex nodded, prepared to focus on the grill.

However, as soon as he noticed there were pretty girls in the queue for the till, his concentration was shot. He spent most of his time looking over his shoulder, trying to catch their eyes, whilst Jack did the majority of the work. After half an hour or so of this, Jack finally lost his temper.

“Alex mate, if you don’t start concentrating I’m going to seriously get angry!” he burst out. When Alex started to defend himself, Jack cut him off.  
“No. I don’t care if you think the lass at the till is hot, you will never stand a chance with her. You might not get the chance to flirt with her on the till, but you do have the chance to make her food, and that’s probably as close as you’re going to get to her. Now face the grill and make some meals!”

A loud ‘Oooh’ came from behind Jack, and turned to see Tasha, Ella, Jos and Steve with nearly identical smirks on their faces.   
“Bitch much,” laughed Ella, walking over and nudging Jack in the ribs. Immediately, Jack regretted his outburst.

“Look mate, I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry at you,” he apologised.

“Nah, I think you’ve got a point,” conceded Alex. The two of them exchanged sheepish smiles, and then got back to clearing the grill screens.

After the outburst, both of the boys loosened up a bit, and soon began to join in the cheesy banter that flew about behind the grills. There was laughter at Steve trying to move his tall frame quickly around back grill, and sarcastic wolf-whistles as Jos and Ella danced along to the music coming from the kitchen.

Come the end of the shift, Alex took a deep breath and rested his head on his arms next to the till.

“Tired?” asked Jack, laughing slightly.

“I don’t know how you guys deal with this all the time! It’s so warm behind here!” exclaimed Alex “I had a lot more fun than I thought I was going to though.”

“Glad to hear it,” replied Jack.


End file.
